Documents show school promises may never be fulfilled
Scathing internal report shows government scrambling to find way to build schools
Edmonton – “The Redford Government’s P3 schools experiment has been all but abandoned by the construction industry,” Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. “The Redford government needs to be honest with Albertans about how and when new schools will be built. Families in new neighborhoods can’t send their children to a school made of government press releases held up by hot air.”
An internal government report shows the government public-private partnership (P3) method for building schools “has been halted” and the government is considering other options.The document, obtained by the Alberta Federation of Labour through Alberta’s Freedom of Information system, summarizes a debrief session of companies in the business of designing, building, financing and managing P3 facilities, including schools. The government commissioned Deloitte to get feedback from these companies after only one bidder stepped forward for the last round of P3 schools.
According to the document, dated October 21, 2013, the P3 process for new schools has been halted. It continues by saying the government is “now considering a range of different procurement options” for these and other schools.
“Now we know why government announcements heralding new schools have been noticeably absent on the costs, expected completion dates, and method of procurement,” McGowan said. “Redford’s new-schools announcements are a figment of a spin doctor’s imagination. They aren’t a real commitment to building the province.”
“P3s are high-flying ideological experiments, and this document proves they haven’t worked for Albertans. It’s time for Premier Redford to get her feet on the ground and put forward a conventional plan to build new schools,” McGowan said. “I’m calling on the province to publicly do as industry has already done – abandon this failed P3 experiment and get busy with a real plan to build Alberta schools.”
Internal government debrief document on P3 schools
-30-MEDIA CONTACT:
Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell)
or via e-mail [email protected]
Internal government debrief document on P3 schools
Internal government debrief document on P3 schools
Part of AFL News Release Thursday, February 20, 2014 titled "Documents show school promises may never be fulfilled"
Government document questions legality of private health care clinic
Officials raise “serious concerns” that Copeman Clinic is breaking the law
Edmonton – Senior government staff question the legality of the Copeman Clinic, a private health care clinic, according to an internal government document obtained by the Alberta Federation of Labour.
In a report drafted in January 2013, government officials flagged numerous practices at the clinic that could put it in contravention of the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act.
“Many Albertans have been concerned that the Copeman Clinic operates outside of the law,” Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. “Turns out, Alberta Health officials shared these concerns.”
The ‘Advice to the Minster’ document, obtained through Alberta’s Freedom of Information system, was drafted after Copeman’s Executive Director Rick Tiedemann’s commented in the media about user fees and the number of patients Copeman’s physicians see.
“Albertans rejected two-tiered health care during Ralph Klein’s ill-fated ‘Third Way’ boondoggle, but the Redford Government is ignoring public opinion, ignoring the advice of their own officials, and turning a blind eye to this clinic’s unCanadian practices,” McGowan said. “They’re allowing the creation of U.S.-inspired private, for-profit health care in Alberta.”
The government document states that the statement made by Copeman’s Tiedemann on user fees “raises serious concerns that the Copeman Healthcare Centre may be in contravention of the AHCIA [Alberta Health Care Insurance Act] since membership fees may be considered extra billing.”
Copeman’s physicians see fewer patients than a typical practitioner in the public system. The government document notes that Copeman may be violating the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act “by voluntarily limiting their practice to only individuals who can pay the membership fees.” Typical family doctors see 2,000 to 3,000 patients. Those working at the Copeman Clinic see no more than 450.
“This puts a strain on the rest of Alberta’s healthcare system. It makes it more difficult for everyday Albertans to find a family doctor, and it means longer wait times,” McGowan said. “It means that medical care is not prioritized to the people who need it most.”
The document advises the minister that there should be a more thorough investigation into the practices at the clinic. However, in the time since the report was written, the government has not taken action, and there have been no changes to the operation of the Copeman Clinic.
“The Copeman Clinic is still behaving in the same way that government officials flagged as potentially illegal,” McGowan said. “Albertans deserve a thorough investigation of private health care clinics.”
Advice to Minister - Concerns on Legality of Copeman Clinic
-30-MEDIA CONTACT:
Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell)or via e-mail [email protected]
Labour Coalition: Auditor General's report illustrates need to halt changes to public service pensions
The report of the Auditor General released today supports the argument that changes to public employee pension plans are premature and have not been properly analyzed.
The approach taken by the Redford government has lacked consultation and testing of outcomes as recommended by the Office of the Auditor General in its report.
The Labour Coalition on Pensions, made up of public sector unions with members and retirees in Alberta public sector pension plans, urges Finance Minister Doug Horner to consider today's recommendations by the Auditor General and ensure that proper consultation and outcomes testing has taken place before major changes to the plans are introduced.
Unions have consistently recommended changes to governance of the plans that would improve stakeholder involvement in plan design changes to manage risks, as recommended by the Auditor General's report, and that these changes have not been implemented by the government.
The Coalition notes specifically that the Auditor General concluded on page 31 of today's report that it is "unclear whether the proposed reforms significantly increase the likelihood of the plans' sustainability."
Among the points made by the Auditor General's report are the following:
• The Government of Alberta has not properly engaged plan stakeholders - the employees and employers who pay for the plans
• The government has not fully considered effects of the changes they are pushing through
• The government has not planned how any changes would actually be implemented
• The "hard cap" on pension contributions proposed by the government can in fact harm the plans' sustainability
The Auditor General's report provides clear evidence the government's rushed process to major pension plan changes needs to be halted until appropriate consultation with stakeholders and rigorous analysis of the impacts of the government's proposals has been completed, a process that cannot happen in a few weeks.
-30-
Backgrounder: Coalition Response to AG's Report
MEDIA CONTACTS:
780-218-9888 – Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour and Chair, Labour Coalition on Pensions
780-991-1274 – Elisabeth Ballermann, President, Health Sciences Association of Alberta
780-918-3061 – Marle Roberts, President, Canadian Union of Public Employees-Alberta
780-265-2294 – Guy Smith, President, Alberta Union of Provincial Employees
780-425-1025 – Heather Smith, President, United Nurses of Alberta
Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell)
or via e-mail [email protected]
MEDIA ADVISORY: TFW Sunshine list needed to protect Canadian workers
Leaders from major Alberta unions call for greater transparency for guest worker program
EDMONTON – Lists of employers who have been approved to hire workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) obtained through access to information requests have been a primary source for Canadians and journalists to uncover details about the program. The officials overseeing these requests have recently imposed stringent new guidelines that have led to up to half those lists being redacted.
“We don’t know — and as the government closes ranks around access to information with respect to TFWs, we may never know — how many Canadians are being displaced by the Temporary Foreign Worker program,” AFL president Gil McGowan said.
What:
At their quarterly executive council meeting, the leaders of the Alberta Federation of Labour are calling for a sunshine list to expose abuses of the Temporary Foreign Worker program.
When:
1:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Where:
Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre (11000 Stadium Rd NW, Edmonton)
Multi-purpose Room 5
Who:
The executive council of the Alberta Federation of Labour, which includes leaders from most of Alberta's major unions, including Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), Iron Workers, United Food & Commercial Workers Union Canada (UFCW), United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), and Unifor.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell)
or via e-mail [email protected]
TFW Sunshine list needed to protect Canadian workers
Canadians deserve transparency, but Harper Government making it easier to hide TFW abuses
Edmonton – In the wake of a series of scandals that have seen Canadians losing their jobs to exploited and underpaid workers from overseas — most recently 65 workers at Imperial Oil’s Kearl Lake oilsands site — the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) is calling for a sunshine list to expose abuses of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).
“Canadians deserve transparency, especially when there are clear examples of Canadians losing good jobs because of this Program,” Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. “However, even as Canadians have been outraged by the latest example of Canadians losing their jobs because of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the government has made moves to make sure future abuses of the program never come to light.”
Lists of employers who have been approved to hire workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program obtained through access to information requests have been a primary source for Canadians and journalists to uncover details about the Program. The officials overseeing these requests have recently imposed stringent new guidelines that have led to up to half those lists being redacted.
“We don't know — and as the government closes ranks around access to information with respect to TFWs, we may never know — how many Canadians are being displaced by the Temporary Foreign Worker program,” McGowan said.
On Tuesday, Feb. 4, 65 Ironworkers employed by Pacer-Promec Joint Ventures at Imperial Oil’s Kearl Lake oilsands site were told they were no longer employed there. Their jobs were then taken over by Temporary Foreign Workers earning about half what they had been making.
“The Government has now made abuses like the one we saw last week easier to get away with,” McGowan said. “The sixty five Canadian workers who lost their jobs last week are just the tip of the iceberg. And rather than giving Canadians the public inquiry they deserve, the government is putting up roadblocks to make it harder to investigate the program.”
Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of Employment and Social Development Jason Kenney have made pledges to rein in the abuses of the Temporary Foreign Worker program. In a letter to Minister Kenney, the Alberta Federation of Labour called on the conservative government to commit to three actions that would bring more transparency on the Temporary Foreign Worker program:
- Make available a full list of all employers holding a work permit for a Temporary Foreign Worker. In technical terms, this means an online searchable database of all active Labour Market Opinions (LMOs), Accelerated Labour Market Opinions (ALMOs), and employers using the Alberta Pilot Project or any Pilot Projects being test-driven in other provinces, along with number of workers, job classifications and base wages.
- Publish a database of primary worksites where Temporary Foreign Workers are employed.
- Forge a federal-provincial agreement for on-site inspections of worksites employing TFWs.
“Let’s let the sun shine on this program,” McGowan said. “Many employers who are not abusing the program are put at a disadvantage by the lack of transparency around this program. I would think they would welcome our proposal.”
-30-AFL Backgrounder: Sunshine List for TFW Program
MEDIA CONTACT:
Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell)
or via e-mail [email protected]
Workers displaced by TFWs are not getting their jobs back, despite claims from company
Pracer-Promec seems unrepentant, saying they’ll continue to use TFWs
Edmonton – The 65 workers who were replaced by Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) last week have still lost their jobs, despite claims to the contrary.
In response to public outrage over Canadian workers being displaced by low-wage imports, Pacer-Promec Joint Ventures announced in a press release that they would “re-hire Canadians to impacted positions that had been filled with temporary foreign workers.” The workers in question have not been contacted about being rehired, nor has the union that represents them been contacted.
“The company misled reporters on Friday with a press release that vaguely indicated that displaced workers would be rehired,” Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. “To date, these workers have not received any job offer from Pacer, nor has the union that represents them. Most of them would like to return to the job site, but they haven’t yet been offered that opportunity. We’ll work hand-in-hand to ensure these workers are rehired and companies that displace Canadians are held to account.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 4, 65 Ironworkers employed by Pacer-Promec Joint Ventures at Imperial Oil’s Kearl Lake oilsands site were told they were no longer employed there. Their jobs were then taken over by Temporary Foreign Workers earning about half what they had been making.
“It’s a perfect example of how this program is being used to drive down wages,” McGowan said. “And this situation is not unique. This is happening at work sites all over the country because this is how the Temporary Foreign Worker program is designed to operate.”
Outrage over the Temporary Foreign Worker program has forced the federal government to make public overtures of curtailing its abuses. At the same time, however, Minister Jason Kenney opened up what is called the Occupation Specific Pilot Project for Temporary Foreign Workers, which allows some employers to make an end-run around all checks and balances on the program.
“Pacer-Promec seems unrepentant. Their press release only expresses regret for the controversy, not for undermining Canadian workers,” McGowan said. “They even end the release by vowing to continue using Temporary Foreign Workers wherever they feel they need them, which in their world could just mean whenever Canadians aren’t willing to take a 50 per cent pay cut.”
-30-MEDIA CONTACT:
Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.289.6528 (cell)
or via e-mail [email protected]